PETER MILLER COMES TO AMERICA
Pete Miller was a handsome young man when he arrived in this country from Russia aboard the SS Celtic in New York City. While likely a bit weary from the 10-day voyage across the Atlantic from Liverpool, he was none-the-worse for wear and probably was ready to take on the world. He had 20 dollars in his pocket and surely was inspired by that bastion of freedom, the Statue of Liberty, as the SS Celtic steamed in to port on that cool late September day in 1906.
Pete had made the journey with his older sister, Eva Behm, and her family from Unterdorf. There was Eva’s husband, Pete Behm, a 42-year old farmer, and their five children. They included Alex, 11, Pete, Jr., 9, Marie, 4, Amelia, 2, and Victor, who was just six months old. Like most immigrants of the era, the Behms and Pete Miller probably made the trip in Third Class steerage, far below the main deck.
But at least they could take some solace in the fact that the Celtic was not a rickety rust bucket as many immigrant vessels were. She was a relatively new ship of the White Star Line, less than five years old and sporting two huge smokestacks amidship and four masts. The vessel was 681 feet long and 75 feet wide. Built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland, in 1901, Celtic was the first steamship to exceed 20,000 tons. She had a displacement of more than 20,904 tons, and her twin screws could push her through the sea at a rate of 17 knots. That was in stark contrast to the days of sailing ships a mere 25 years earlier, when an Atlantic voyage could take six weeks.
The crossing from Liverpool, England was surely full of apprehension, and a great deal of anticipation. For young boys like Alex and Pete Behm, hanging around with their “Onkel Pete” must have been exciting, and it probably gave Eva and the elder Pete something of a respite. Many years later, Pete Behm, Jr. remembered Pete Miller in one particular incident catching a wasp and teasing the Behm boys with it.
According to the manifest presented to the authorities by J. Barlow Ransom, the ship’s master, there were 1,265 souls aboard the Celtic. Only about 10 percent of passengers were able to travel First Class; and another 5 percent could travel Second Class. For most passengers – about 85 % of them – it was Third Class, which included steerage. That’s probably where Pete Miller and the Behm family spent most of the voyage.
There is no certain way to determine how many of the passengers were tourists and how many were immigrants. However, the manifest offers some clues. There were 147 U.S. citizens aboard, so it’s safe to assume they were not immigrants. There were 462 Irish, 262 Scandinavians, and 106 Russians on board, with Welsh, Scotch, German, Slovenian, Finnish and Flemish passengers comprising the other 288 passengers.
Ellis Island lies near the entrance to the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. It is near Liberty Island, long known as Bedloe Island, and home to the Statue of Liberty, which had been a gift from France in 1886. Surely, this beacon of liberty and hope was the focus of attention for the anxious travelers aboard the SS Celtic as it steamed into the harbor.
As the SS Celtic entered port on September 29, 1906, she would have tied up at one of the piers in lower Manhattan. Ellis Island itself was incapable of accommodating the many ships arriving each day with thousands of immigrants. Between 1892 and 1954, more than 12 million immigrant men, women and children arrived through Ellis Island. As many as 30 huge ships might be in the New York City harbor at once, requiring considerable skill on the part of harbor personnel and ships pilots.
Ultimately, they would tie up at a Manhattan pier, and immigrants would be transported by small boats across the harbor to Ellis Island. There, they would enter the Grand Hall and begin a process that could be grueling and heartbreaking. About one in ten immigrants would be turned back for several of reasons. Heart problems, asthma, or any number of ailments could be justification for returning the newcomers to their homeland. Understandably, there was caution about allowing entry to immigrants carrying disease.
Even before they arrived in port, the medical officer on the ship would provide immigration authorities with an “Affidavit of Surgeon,” included as part of the arrival manifest, attesting to the fact that he had made “personal examination of the aliens named herein.” When the SS Celtic arrived in New York City on September 19, 1906, the following language was incorporated into the surgeon’s affidavit as part of the manifest document:
“I, John Charles Beaummont, Surgeon of the SS Celtic, sailing herewith, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that I have had 17 years experience as a Physician and Surgeon, and that I am entitled to practice under the authority of LMGH Edinburgh –LMGS Glasgow, and that I have made a personal examination of each of the aliens named herein, and that the foregoing Lists or Manifest Sheets, 37 in number, are, according to the bestof my knowledge and belief, full, correct, and true in all particulars, relative to the mental and physical condition of such aliens. Sworn to before me this 29 day of Sep 1906 at New York.” The document was signed by J.C. Beaummont.
Recognizing that most ship doctors would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of passengers, officials at Ellis Island created extensive medical examination facilities for immigrants. Each immigrant would be asked numerous questions – including “have you ever been in jail”—which could land them on a boat destined for home if the answer was yes. It could take several days – or even weeks -- for immigrants to get through Ellis Island. It isn’t known exactly how long Pete Miller and the Behms were at Ellis Island, so they were likely on their way a few days after arrival.
Pete Miller and the Behm family had indicated they were destined for Marion, Kansas to join a “friend,” Johannes Ehrlich. While there were Ehrlich families in Unterdorf, there is no evidence indicating that the Behms and Miller went to Marion, Kansas. Thus far, there’s also no evidence that suggests a relationship between Johannes Ehrlich and either Pete Miller or the Behm family. Some have suggested that inclusion of this name and address was merely a way to assure authorities that the new immigrants were not indigent and actually had a plan. That may have been so, but time has obscured whatever relationship may have existed between Johannes Ehrlich, Pete Miller and the Behm family.
In any event, the Behm family and Pete Miller arrived in Longmont, Colorado in the fall of 1906. It was here that Pete Miller would meet and marry Dora Eckerdt. They would later move to Chicago, then to Watertown, South Dakota – but then made their way to western Nebraska, finally living in Whitney, where they set roots and watched their children and grandchildren grow up. Miller descendants would mushroom in number and eventually live places as diverse as Kentucky, Texas, Washington, California, Alaska, Arizona, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. A few have lived overseas, including China and Mozambique. To our knowledge, none remains in Nebraska – and none has returned to the ancestral colony of Unterdorf, along the Volga in Russia, where it all began.